s.

"Soul! Soul! For a soul-cake!
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for----."

But La Chesnaye shouts out for the knaves to hold quiet. Godefroy bobs
his tipstaff, and bawls on:

"Soul! Soul! For an apple or two!
If you've got no apples, nuts will do!
Out with your raisins, down with your gin!
Give me plenty and I'll begin."

M. Radisson looks down the hall and laughs. "By the saints," says he
softly, "a man loses the Christian calendar in this land! 'Tis All
Souls' Night! Give the men a treat, La Chesnaye."

But La Chesnaye, being governor, must needs show his authority, and
vows to flog the knave for impudence. Turning over benches in his
haste, the merchant falls on Godefroy with such largesse of cuffs that
the fellow is glad to keep peace.

The door blows open, and with a gust of wind a silent figure blows in.
'Tis Le Borgne, the one-eyed, who has taken to joining our men of a
merry night, which M. de Radisson encourages; for he would have all the
Indians come freely.

"Ha!" says Radisson, "I thought 'twas the men I sent to spy if the
marsh were safe crossing. Give Le Borgne tobacco, La Chesnaye. If
once the fellow gets drunk," he adds to me in an undertone, "that
silent tongue of his may wag on the interlopers. We must be stirring,
stirring, Ramsay! Ten days past! Egad, a man might as well be a
fish-worm burrowing underground as such a snail! We must stir--stir!
See here"--drawing me to the table apart from the others--"here we are
on the lower river," and he marked the letter X on a line indicating
the flow of our river to the bay. "Here is the upper river," and he
drew another river meeting ours at a sharp angle. "Here is Governor
Brigdar of the Hudson's Bay Company," marking another X on the upper
river. "Here is Ben Gillam! We are half-way between them on the
south. I sent two men to see if the marsh between the rivers is fit
crossing."

[Illustration: Radisson's map.]

"Fit crossing?"

"When 'tis safe, we might plan a surprise. The only doubt is how many
of those pirates are there who attacked you in the woods?"

And he sat back whiffing his pipe and gazing in space. By this, La
Chesnaye had distributed so generous a treat that half the sailors were
roaring out hilarious mirth. Godefroy astride a bench played big drum
on the wrong-end-up of the cook's dish-pan. Allemand attempted to
fiddle a poker across the tongs. Voyageurs tried to shoot the big
canoe